Slowdown on Slovak pharmaceutical market in 2009

2010-02-09

The Slovak pharmaceutical market has been in the grip of the global economic crisis, according to Josef Valenta, the general manager of Sanofi-Aventis/Zentiva in Slovakia, quoted by the Slovak magazine E-Trend. In previous years the pharmaceutical market in the country grew by 10% per year, but in 2009 the increase was very modest, a mere 1%. The sales levels of medicines used in the treatment of serious or life-threatening diseases were relatively stable, but drug manufacturers were forced to reduce the prices of medicines, and this had an adverse effect on their profits. Because of the crisis, the government and health insurance companies have been exerting even greater pressure on manufacturers to bring their prices down, despite the fact that in 2007 and 2008 prices had already dropped by 7% and 8% respectively. Mr Valenta claims that the crisis has also affected drug distributors, who have been having problems with regular payments for delivered drugs. The situation is even worse with regard to the dietary supplement market, the sales value of which has been reduced by 40-50%.
Mr Valenta claims that the clamour for cheaper medicines from patients and the authorities has been causing cheaper drug manufacturers from Asia to do business in Slovakia, which is having an adverse effect on domestic generic drug manufacturers, including Zentiva’s plant in the Slovak town of Hlohovec.